The Son Finally Rises- Millar on Superman Red Son [Newsarama]
Superman is a terribly boring character, but the What-If-type story about a Soviet Superman has always sounded pretty interesting, and it's finally going to be made. Also other Millar interview items here.

Future Comics reducing prices (but pages too) [Newsarama]
Item: The number one retailer poll response/request was a lower price point. Also, a rumor at Rage that Future's making their books 100% returnable (meanwhile Marvel's even making X-Men movie tie-in books a risk!). Gotta root for the veterans over at Future, unfortunate but understandable winners of the 02002 No Way Out Award For Futile Resistance.

Looks like Newsarama's got a new server set-up or something, and some URLs there no longer have ampersands in them. Which means Neilalien no longer has to tediously change & to &amp; twice by hand every time he links there to keep this site in valid XHTML 1.0. It's the little things.

Comics To Go [Franklin's Findings]
Comments on CrossGen's new Traveler format and past similar attempts by Marvel. Is anyone else getting the impression that people who comment on CrossGen business moves usually feel compelled to also qualify it with something like, "CrossGen's stuff does nothing for me..." Same here. CrossGen's trying some new things. That's great! But so far, their books do nothing for Neilalien. Except for that issue of Mystic that had Dr. Strange in it... Another thing that struck Neilalien about that Ninth Art column, but he was too polite to mention it before, was how odd it felt to find honest linkable praise of CrossGen on a comics news/commentary site that's not obviously sponsored by CrossGen...

The Civil War Inside Sony [Wired via Boing Boing]
Very interesting article about "the dematerialization of Sony and its products." Blogged here as relevant only because Neilalien is wondering aloud how dead-tree comics fit into the Sony business paradigm described here, after they buy Marvel and its stable of character properties for content. Is the dead-tree comic book an 8-track tape?

Do collections of serialized comics work? Time for writing in comics to carry more weight [Steven Grant's Permanent Damage column this week]
Stan Lee is on a pedestal around these parts, but even Neilalien will tell you that nobody ought to be writing today the way Stan did back then.

Marvel due 'hefty' customs rebate! [Splash; WSJ.com]
The import duty Marvel paid during the mid-90's on toys imported from China has been reduced from 12% to 6.8%. The superhero action figures have been reclassified from the higher-rated "dolls" to "nonhuman creatures." Neilalien fears that this undermines the entire Marvel Universe anti-prejudice message that mutants are people too.

More customs news: Rebel Visions, a history of underground comics, is banned in Canada [Boing Boing via Journalista]

Even Marvel boycotters are tempted by JMS on Dr. Strange! [Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog]
Now that's a testament to the power of getting quality talent on good characters. Anyway, there seems to be a lot to dislike about Marvel right now, and Neilalien absolutely respects Bloggity's boycott. When an old Marvelhead like Neilalien is only picking up Amazing Spider-Man and any Doctor Strange appearances, that's basically a boycott from him. Perhaps the solution for Bloggity and other like-minded folks is to pre-order the JMS/Doc book, as a real and/or symbolic action of reducing the retailer's risk in ordering a Marvel title?

Dr. Strange Fan Prayer Assignment: We want a great artist on the mini-series, and just as importantly, we want the same artist for all the issues, and we want the books to come out on time. No repeats of these issues from Flight of Bones and The Order.

Seeding the Neilalien Message Board: So what do you think JMS means when he says he's going to bring Doc into the 21st century? And what would you like it to mean?

John Parker believes in comics activism. But his fellow comic activists despair of him. Why? Because he will insist on wearing his Superman T-shirt. They say it sends the wrong signal about comics, but in his experience, it sends exactly the right one.

Amen. Substitute "Dr. Strange weblog branding" for "Superman T-shirt" in this article, and you'll begin to understand some of Neilalien's rationales and experiences.

The simple answer is that I think superhero books are what comics do best and the proof is that they're consistently the best-selling books. I read quite a lot of titles right now and all bar one or two are Superhero books. But I reject the idea that they're a narrow genre with a limited number of themes. Superheroes are almost a medium in themselves, ranging from children's stories to romance to war to sci-fi. It's the one thing, besides humour, I think comics do better than movies or books and, my God, we don't need to feel ashamed or justify it. Superhero comics also gave me my comics stiffy as a kid in the early eighties and are the reason I'm working in the business, so it's probably a means of feeding my inner ten year old too. There's just nothing more satisfying than a good superhero comic and, right now, we've got the highest quality of these books we've seen in our history.

And heck, not even a passing snide remark in the whole trifecta resembling the irrelevant, idiotic ad hominem attack against the adult nostalgic superhero reader that usually passes for "comics activism" these days, either- as opposed to say, actual outreach to people who currently do not read comics.

These three links + the JMS Dr. Strange news = a really good long weekend for Neilalien. It almost takes the edge off the cold snap, economic recession, looming war, that whole apparent Supreme Court whiff on the letter and spirit of what "limited Times" means, etc., etc... Almost. Oh well. Helping to take the edge off is exactly what comic book entertainment and this weblog are supposed to do. Enjoy.

J. Michael Stracyznski To Do Dr. Strange Mini-Series

4) Comics: Doctor Strange
Finally, I've turned an expanded, 35 page outline for a Doctor Strange limited series in to Marvel, and will be writing the script for that one as soon as I can get my head above water (easier on the keyboard that way). I wanted to bring the Doc into the 21st century and revisualize certain aspects of his character and his history. It's not intended to be as deep or as potentially controversial as Supreme Power, this one's for fun because I'm a longtime fan of Doc Strange, and want to do something nifty with the character.

The cover of Betty and Me #16, September 01968 [temporary link to poor cover scan on eBay for now until better is found; via DrunkenFist.com]
Betty: Archie, did you have any trouble rescuing me? Archie: I sure did Betty! I had to BEAT OFF three other guys!

Idiots and Savants [current Savant Essay]
Savant has responded to Warren Ellis' dropping out of comics activism by reaffirming its broken record of people-badgering to its choir. The definition of insanity is repeating the same action and expecting a different result.

Neilalien's musings last week on Marvel's X books (no, not those X books) generated a surprising amount of email. He is corrected: clearly there is attention out there for these books. And they would sell even better if the required financial investment was decreased and the promotion increased (not even First Looks).
This week's Lying In The Gutters, among other good items, ends up serving as a great follow-up:

One series that won't be helping the Marvel line to gain dominance is the continuing 'Earth X,' now entering it's final arc as 'Paradise X.' This is Bob Harras regime title, kept going by already-signed contracts designed to keep Alex Ross sweet. Concerning alternative Marvel futures based heavily of past continuity, it's not a series that fits in with the new Marvel regime, and receives little publicity or promotion.

Also news that fans won't get to see all the bits and pieces of the uber-story as intended... X fans are left to conclude that Gus Whoozit, Pointy Tit and Marville are the books that do fit into the new Marvel regime.

Marvel raises Q4 guidance, offers 02003 outlook [press release on Newsarama, Pulse]
Neilalien still clings to the hope that a stronger Marvel means a stronger comic book industry, and a stronger chance of new Dr. Strange stories. But everywhere, doubt...

Comics and Genre [Comics Journal Message Board]
Decent rant and rumination about "genre," genre fiction, genre conventions, etc. Neilalien is moved to estimate that the two cents by 'sean t. collins' on the first page is worth about a dollar.

Maybe the people who are still buying monthly comics are a closed and inelastic market.

If you're like Neilalien, you've been wondering: Where is The Operative? It looks like SpinnerRack.com redesigned without him? Neilalien went surfing and tracked down his Column Archive. Lots of good stuff here. And heck, there's always room for another year-ender: 02002 Smackdown Awards.

How comics abandoned kids [Globe and Mail article cut-and-pasted to The Drawing Board MB (with good ensuing discussion) via Flat Earth]
(A little internet meta bitching/pet-peeving. Blogs (great drivers of traffic to news sites that we are) really had to wait for exactly this kind of cut-and-pasting-somewhere-else to happen. Because stories on The Globe and Mail website don't have permalinks (and apparently only a seven-day shelf life too?). If this is not the case, then it's certainly not clear. Idiocy and lunacy. Why even bother having a news website? Sheesh. They don't deserve any traffic. Anyway, watch out on this one, current direct linkers to the Globe and Mail: those links are going to break the moment the above article is no longer the first/newest item in search results for the keywords "how" and "comics.")

Update:Journalista links to the above article. If, for the most part, superhero comic books nowadays aren't for children, and children aren't reading superhero comic books- then it sounds like Journalista's blogrolling of their publishers Marvel, DC, et al. as "Children's" Publishers is inaccurate at best.

This week's big fun is to sorta "Zeitgeist yourself" by checking the popularity of keyword searches on Google via Google AdWords. Pop in the keywords you might use for your site. Check on how your branding and metatags are doing. Compare with your favorite websites and weblogs. Below are results from this morning, English language only, all countries. Neilalien is only a five-center. :( Neilalien's always known from his own research that 'doctor strange' and 'dr. strange' yield very different search results and patterns- but over an 8-to-1 difference in how often those words are searched/clicked is notable. Looks like it's about $24/day to advertise on Google searches for 'comic books' (and it's already crowded). 'Sex' is shown for comparison purposes only. :) Via Boing Boing.

TCJ #249 also reviews a fanzine, The Rocket's Blast Comicollector (RBCC) #1, which includes an extensive Ditko treatment
The TCJ says it's sold out, but the website doesn't say. Neilalien's looking to get this.

Dr. Strange is on the cover of Paradise X #8. Looks like Doc continues to play an important role in the story as well.

This item provided for the purposes of complete Dr. Strange information only. Paradise X is so out of the realm of Neilalien's attention. He really enjoyed the comprehensive, Alex-Ross-redesigned What If? of Earth X- but after that, the concept just can't support 24 more issues (Universe X, etc.) plus all the #0's, #13's, #X's, and all the one-shots too- and all at $3-5 a pop. Plus Neilalien's still miffed that out of all the main Marvel icons, Dr. Strange was AWOL in Earth X and the only one who had to wait until Universe X for the alternative X treatment. Boo, hiss. (Although that treatment itself, when we finally got it, was decent.)

Neilalien didn't think this book was in the realm of anyone else's attention, either. You don't see it mentioned or reviewed much online (not that what happens in the vocal mini-enclaves online is ever a true parallel of comicdom as a whole). Can't even find an image of the cover to link to yet- no First Looks, nothing- and Marvel's site is bloated-slow tonight. But research shows it's doing respectable numbers for the current marketplace (#56 on ICv2's Top 300 for December)... Neilalien supposes that as an enjoyer of the Marvel Universe, Earth/Universe/Paradise X will always be a potential TPB decision for him- but it's tabled for now until the lotto tickets hit- and until many other, much better TPB's already grace his shelves.

The latest crappy comic-book-shop experience is found here [Conversing column at ZENtertainment]
Advice (nay, almost a duty): When you give unknowledgeable people a list of comic book gifts you might like, include with that list the address of a nice, clean comic book store that will provide a fun, great, or at least normal, first impression and shopping experience- with a map/directions, and some gas money for the potentially longer drive.

"...Eventually the negativity and cynicism of the [Comics] Journal and its writers wore me down and I stopped buying..." [The Johnny Bacardi Show]
Update: And TCJ's pricey too! [Johnny Bacardi Show]
Neilalien's just funnin'. Hopefully with this link, the fine blogger over there will consider his backpedaling case now argued in full over here.

Watching the hourglass drain: "Comics shops that cater solely to their owner's fannish interests are slowly cutting their own throats" [big Journalista]

Comics Death Spiral [Franklin's Findings]
"My main complaint against most critics of superhero dominance is that they argue as if the problem is that superhero comics sell too many copies rather than everything else selling too few... The problem with comics isn't content... The problem is competition... Every time Marvel and DC raise prices, the problem gets worse... geek culture stores... the comics industry and the direct market are seeing that their fates are no longer intertwined..."

The comic book industry has been in decline for a number of years. The top-selling comic books boast sales numbers that would have quickly led to cancellation just a decade earlier. We feel that this decline has two root causes: subject matter and distribution. On the subject matter front, one quirky little genre, superheroes, has come to dominate the mainstream comic book industry -- a genre that, with the exception of a few blockbuster movies, doesn't seem to have a tremendous appeal for the average adult. On the distribution front, comic books are mostly sold in small specialty shops that, for whatever reason, haven't exactly been considered appealing shopping destinations by the public at large. Webcomics allows us to sidestep both of those problems. We can tell whatever kinds of stories we want, and we can distribute them directly to our readers.

Alan David Doane weighs in on the Marvel price hike [Comic Book Galaxy]
Neilalien the Armchair Economist is thinking that price is definitely a factor that affects sales. Isn't that Economics 101? Or better: the interrelation of both quality and price is what determines sales (as opposed to filtering them out as separate factors and making one more important than the other). If a book's price is perceived by the consumer to be a fair deal (at or below) in comparison with the book's perceived quality/value, chances of a sale are good. Possible other facets of the problem sales face via higher prices (separate from the quality side) include: A higher price means less experimentation and fewer impulse buys (when perceived quality has not yet been ascertained by the curious consumer); a less competitive entertainment-dollar profile vs. movies and video games; tough times right now means some people are probably honestly dropping books (the price point is higher even than their addiction level when there are other bills to be paid); maybe trade paperbacks are once again shown as the way to go if the floppies aren't viable with the high-quality paper/printing demanded nowadays but with low print-runs nowadays, etc. Surely there is some whining of the ridiculous or disingenuous type happening out there- a Green Lantern hardcore fan is going to pay the increase like so many times before, or drop comics forever as so many of them have before- but every time Doane huffs at us that only crappy corporate comics have to worry about price hikes and he'd gladly pay $20 for the high-quality books that he's addicted to, Neilalien has to wonder, But what about the people not yet addicted?

Neilalien has the college football game on tonight in the background. Keith Jackson just said, "He had blockers out in front" and Neilalien heard, "He had bloggers out in front."

In a recent article on The Comic Journal website called 'More Crap Is What We Need,' Kim Thompson argues that the American comics field is too polarized between art comics and superhero titles. We need more competent genre work, 'the equivalent of the kind of fat paperbacks you can buy at the airport.' He's dead right. Those fat paperbacks sell not because they're life-changing works of literary brilliance, but because they hit a large number of people where they live. Superhero comics and art comics alike are too insular, too often... This change is happening, slowly... More of this is bound to happen as superhero comics and art comics alike struggle to maintain a sizable readership. Small and large comics publishers alike are looking for new types of material that will, ideally, bring in new readers while still appealing to their core audience. That means genre fiction.

More fresh air! And an occult mystery book starring Dr. Strange would be Heaven. A must read.

Other Dr. Strange Appearances of Mention: The Order #1-6 (Neilalien almost made this entire list without mentioning The Order at all- that's got to be bad);
the best was probably Order #3- Doc gets respect, Clea gets time, Avengers vs. Defenders by Busiek, Haley art; Daredevil #39 (one-page courtroom testimony by Bendis);
Infinity Abyss #1-6

Best Things About Comics: MoCCA 02002 Art Festival; Arlen Schumer's CUNY lecture series Superheroes In The 60's: Comics & Counterculture; comic book weblog boomlet late in the year; Top Shelf saved by comics community when LPC went bankrupt

Worst Things About Comics: Stan Lee suing Marvel; the Jesus Castillo case; Marvel publicity stunts; Marvel short-term bottom-line policies; comic book online message boards, newsgroups, columnists and news sites;
still low diversity in comics re: genres, creator voices, genders and age-ranges; comics still perceived by adults as for kids, and by kids as about as exciting as keeping a barrel hoop rolling down the street with a stick (if either group knows of comics at all);
comics perception in the general culture still not 'cool' enough to really grow readership, either through reclaiming its hipness (show people in movies reading comics the way they showed smoking) or sub-counter-culture-verboten-ness; ever increasing usage of the term 'fanboy' and 'art comic' in any way (both terms should be banned); still way too many people in comicdom (at least it seems like so many when you're online) who (a) bid on CGC-slabbed Dynamic Forces holofoil Wizard #1/2 He-Mans or whatevers on Ebay, (b) have the ego-bloat to think that they are actually higher on the geek hierarchy than anyone else, or (c) apparently don't realize that 90% of the 'art'/'adult'/independent/alternative crappily-drawn depressing anti-fantasy non-stories of white (mostly male) middle-class modern ennui which no one wants to read is just as much crap as 90% of the superhero stuff, and is doing just as little to move this beautiful images-and-words storytelling medium forward; etc.

Doctor Strange is a fictional character who appears in, and is wholly owned by, Marvel Comics.
This site is not official nor affiliated with Marvel Comics.
This site is for academic and personal use.
Images of Doctor Strange and other characters are owned by their respective owners, and are used via fair use out of love without permission.
This site has no intention of diluting, risking or exploiting anyone's ownership or the money-making ability of their own properties, trademarks, and copyrights.
It is this site's sincere hope that the owners, especially Marvel Comics, are rational people who "get" the internet and fandom,
and can perceive this site as a free generator of positive promotion and interest, even when this site might be critical of how they are using their properties, or place their properties in humorous, satiric, parodic or ironic situations.